


pinnochio's habit

by snoopys



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: M/M, fake dating au, havent really written in so long, sat in the wip aisle for far too long, this is fluff i promise PROMISE, with a dash of angst that is
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:26:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21767560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snoopys/pseuds/snoopys
Summary: After a falsely written article, Yuta has to save his best friend, Doyoung, from getting kicked out of the precious campus organization he's in. And by saving his best friend, it meant he had to pretend to date his competition in dance, Lee Taeyong.Nothing goes right as expected. Aside from finding love within each other that is.
Relationships: Lee Taeyong/Nakamoto Yuta
Comments: 7
Kudos: 55





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> ok before we get to my shitpile of a fic. i must warn everyone that slow updates are to expect from this work. I HAVENT WRITTEN ANYTHING IN SOOOOO LONG and this one was like 90% done when i looked at it so i decided to end a chapter a little badly then proceeded to call it a day. but what's important is that IM BACK BABY, of course i have been planning to write a yutae fic ever since 2017 and now 2020 might be the year i finally make my wishes come true! hope that you guys will love this one and cheers to another writing year!

“You did what?!”

Doyoung lowers his head, scratching the back of it with his teeth tightly pressing his mouth into a thin line. Yuta stood, glaring at Doyoung, towel hanging around his waist. “You did what, Doyoung,” Yuta speaks up, sternly this time and it sounded more like a demand than a question.

The said boy looks up at Yuta still biting his lips and he lifts his shoulders, “I wrote a false article about you and Taeyong.”

He lets out a huff in disbelief, running his hand into the wet strands of his hair and walks away. Of course Doyoung would do something so stupid and involve him and Taeyong. Only Doyoung would do that, no one else.

"Yuta, listen-" he doesn't, Yuta takes quick steps towards his room and slams the door in Doyoung's face. The other boy groans, knocking on the door furiously. "Look, it's not that bad!"

Yuta raises an eyebrow at that, he stares at the door to debate on whether letting the boy explain or tell him to fuck off. 

Say, Doyoung has written only false articles for his entire life and up until this day, they question why he's still in the campus journalism club.

He has a talent in writing, that they can not deny. But one thing's for sure is that he doesn't have an eye for what's hot and depends on his growing nose to do the work for him. It was stupid to let him off on his first false article, he never grew out of the habit of writing them. 

Well, Yuta was never involved in any of them so at first it was okay. It was like an unspoken rule to never drag your pals into trouble, especially when you add fuel to the fire. Whenever Doyoung sent an article to his club, he knows he's not part of it, he doesn't pay much of his attention to it.

But this time, he's the star of the said article, he hasn't read it yet but he doesn't even want to know the contents of it. Ever.

"Fine," he sighs, pulling a shirt down his head. "I'll let you explain but if I don't like it, this friendship is over."

There's a weird noise of disbelief from outside and Doyoung drops his head on the surface of the door. Yuta opens the hair dryer quickly and drowns out Doyoung's voice with the loud sound of air blowing out of the thing.

"Jesus, you decide to be half naked during a conversation like this?" Doyoung's muffled voice comes up when the hair dryer was off for a second. He rolls his eyes, tugs at the pair of shorts hanging on the edge of the bed and puts it on. "What conversation and I'm no longer half naked, dream on."

Another weird sound erupted from outside, and Doyoung mumbles. "You don't even let me talk and then you snap at me asking what conversation… well bitch, let me give YOU a conversation."

He sighs, reluctantly setting the hair dryer down before pondering whether to let the gremlin in or not. He does, eventually, pulls the door open, leaving Doyoung falling face flat on the floor. "Alright," Yuta offers his hand. "Explain or 13 years down the drain, choose." Doyoung scoffs at that before dusting off his sleeve. "This is obviously a dead end, if you don't like my explanation I'm still losing my best friend."

"You already did lose your best friend when you wrote fake news about him," Yuta grumbles. "We're only friends now."

Doyoung huffs along with a look that said 'of course, he's being dramatic'. "I needed hot news, Yuta," he quickly begins, "and you know what? You're the star dancer from the university's dance team." The other boy listens in dread, holding back as much as he could before he would throw a punch or two towards his now former friend that stood in front of him.

"You could have just wrote about me preparing a new dance number?" He raises one eyebrow up and Doyoung was silenced after that. 

"Fuck…" Doyoung says, exasperated.

"What?"

"You're right."

"God."

"But what I wrote is obviously better," he then grins wide, looking up as if he was remembering every single word he had typed out and Yuta is beyond the point of wanting to shove this bitch into a wall and yell into his face. "What could be better? I gave you a smoking headline?"

There's a grim smile on his face and having seen it a handful of times, the Japanese male is a hundred percent sure he's gonna spit out bullshit. Grim smiles on Doyoung never meant any good. 

"Well, it's simple addition. Taeyong has been quite in the heat of the people's eyes right now because he got accepted into this really- like really good dance crew-"

Everytime he manages to hear that news come from anyone, jealousy bubbles up like boiling water in him. It's not a surprise, nor a big issue, if he admitted he's jealous, or the most that he's envious of the position acquired by the boy in topic. 

It was only right for Yuta to be, he has been the star dancer for years and no one had gotten to his level before Taeyong came. He doesn't like this uncalled for competition but he's immersed into winning no matter what.

Scoff. "Simple addition?"

Doyoung was silenced again, it's the third time he's clamped his mouth shut, and Yuta wants to take a shot every time he does. It's entertaining.

"Is it not?" Doyoung then asks, waiting for Yuta's face to contort into another reaction—any other expression aside from evident anger and annoyance. His face doesn't change but instead he lowly grumbles, "you don't get it, do you?"

He turns his head to the other way, making sure that Doyoung doesn't see the way his face turns into a sad looking one rather than the face he's kept on for the past few minutes.

Yuta sighs. "I don't know what you wrote in that article but if anything, Taeyong and I are like enemies… except he doesn't see me that way." 

For all the years that Yuta had caught roses thrown onto the stage and living for the loud applause after the last movement of his leg, Lee Taeyong was slowly growing into the same size of popularity and appreciation.

Indeed, there was no one like Yuta or even the slightest bit close to his level. That was until he saw a new face into the university and walked into the auditions with a shy smile and a few arrogant remarks here and there about himself. He stated he was confident even with the puppy eyes, and Yuta admits he doubted him the very moment he said that.

But he was angry. Because once the music started playing its beat, he was more than allowed to be confident because his body? It's the perfect one to be called married to the music.

And since then, Yuta was scared, annoyed, envious because he could easily snatch the title from him and step on him until he's nothing but a memory… or worse: the best dancer next to Taeyong.

Yuta turns to Doyoung immediately after quickly recovering from the pain. Though, the younger male was really quiet which was an out of character portrait, Yuta couldn't help but interfere. "Something wrong?"

He hisses, wincing as well. "Yeah…"

The elder scrunches up his nose and fears to ask what it was but he does anyway, and he doesn't like the way Doyoung is taking his precious time to tell him. "It's just that… in the article… I kind of wrote that you guys are… dating… please don't… hate… me."

"What?!" Yuta yells, hand already coming up to grab the boy by the collar but he stops midway and pulls on his hair instead. "No! Why would I date him?" he breaks down, dragging on the word 'date' to send more anger directed at Doyoung and only Doyoung.

"You don't want to listen to me, I'm saying that it's addition. Even in writing articles, there's math and this is it." He wants to take it back but he bites his tongue instead, watching as the flame in the elder's eyes burn bigger and brighter. It would get him soon and he knows that Yuta would make sure that he does end up with his pants set on fire.

Could things get worse? That was the only thing that ran in his head as he stared at the younger down. Doyoung did not just write the fakest article ever… joke's on him because Doyoung fucking did.

"What math? Not even chemistry is present in this said duo between Taeyong and I," he runs a hand through his already messy hair, migraine pulsing worse on his head. "Heck! we haven't even said any other words to each other aside from 'hi' alone."

Doyoung then widens his eyes. "Holy shit, you guys actually talk. I thought it was all just severe tension while like grooving you know."

Yuta's lips spread into a shit eating grin, "I can't believe you just said grooving." Doyoung shrugs, "isn't that another word for dancing? Or do you want me to say boogi-"

He raises his hand and halts his friend before he gets to finish whatever kind of sentence that was. Honestly, he has no idea what to do now. The article was published, much to his luck, yesterday and it was a certainty that people had already read it- feedback and other reactions would most likely come the next day.

In other words, Yuta is completely fucked and he has no way out of this. He just has to tell that it was another one of Doyoung's shenanigans (read: fake news) and they will surely lessen in a count of hours.

But all that gets thrown at the back of his head when Doyoung suddenly gets on his knees and pleads, "don't tell them it's fake!"

Yuta doesn't think twice when he shouts "why not?!" loud into Doyoung's face and the younger doesn't budge on his position on the floor. He takes a short moment of silence before an audible sigh comes out of his lips, sounding defeated.

He looked scared, for the first time in Yuta's life, and he couldn't help but feel pity when he explained about being kicked out of the one and only organization that took him in for his passion about writing. If it's about passion, Yuta always sympathizes with it.

Because he knows how it feels like to have a thin glass separating his defeat and his success. One minute later, the roses being thrown on stage after his performances would become tomatoes to stain his perfectly ironed shirts. 

"One more false article and I'll be out. Yuta, you, out of all people, should know how I would do anything to stay—and I already am! Do you think looking for interesting cases on campus is an easy job? No. And neither is having to live a life with your passion stepped on."

Yuta chews on his lower lip and he hears the dangling of his bracelet wrapped around his wrist. Maybe this time, this one time.

"Then what can I do to help?" he gives up, not wanting to hear this rant go on, anything about talents would make his heart break even and that was the least of the things he wants to happen to him.

Doyoung's eyes brighten and he jumps up to hug his pal, if they still are and he's badly hoping they are. "I had the perfect idea a while ago before going to see your ugly face."

The elder pushes away his arms and scowls, "no idea of yours was ever perfect and my face is not ugly but go on?" Doyoung then smiled at him and easily muttered the deal. "Fake dating."

"Fake a who?"

"Fake dating, not a who."

It wasn't a new concept to Yuta nor Doyoung but neither was it a thing they'd do out of the blue. They've fake dated a few people, brought dates in sudden gatherings and then forget it ever happened. Though this time, Yuta's afraid if he agreed, it would take him to hell and back to forget.

And on the topic of hell, it all dawns on him that they're still talking about the dancing ace—the threat to Yuta's prospering career, Lee Taeyong.

But then he finds himself turning to Doyoung and he asks, "so how are we gonna do it?"

Doyoung then smiles widely, poking the arm of the dancer—who quickly turns away from his touch but awfully fails—and begins to discuss his well-thought plan. "I have at least A to D to explain so which one do you think would work best?"

Yuta rolls his eyes and crosses his arms on his chest. "How am I going to judge by the letters alone?" and Doyoung could only rub his nape at the realization. "Ah… right…"

The younger boy then stands up and starts digging into Yuta's wardrobe, unpermitted as per usual and Yuta's more than used to it, taking out the most decent shirt he could find in the odd mix of neatly folded clothes with lazily tucked in shirts. "Wear this first and then I can tell you how to go on with my plan."

His head yelled not to take it but Yuta finds himself snatching the shirt from Doyoung's grip and stomps out of his room. Doyoung giggles as he follows after the elder and speaks, "you know if you weren't throwing a small tantrum, I would have believed you wanted to date Taeyong all this time secretly!"

There's a yelp that comes from the bathroom before the door is slammed. "Shut the fuck up!"


	2. date night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They discuss the game plan but it's not really a meeting to look forward to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> really sorry for updating after like 50 years, i swear updates will be faster now aaaah hope u guys enjoy this even if it's quite short!!

Yuta was running late, it may not be much of a big surprise but for once, he wasn't intending to do so.

Aside from all the time taken to get ready; of course, a man like him wouldn't want to look good on an occasion, especially ones that are deemed as dates. He chose his outfit carefully and even had the chance to ask Ten whether it looked good or not, but realized late that it was supposed that Johnny was the man for the question but he had no time left to ask.

He put on the outfit and took at least three looks, re-looks counted, into the mirror. He doesn't quite understand why his stomach was feeling funny and his heart rate was about a thousand per minute.

He admits it's such an experience to make dinner plans with someone you don't really talk to everyday—much yet that the person in topic could easily pass off as his nemesis. But that has been long discussed to be one-sided but still, it's a point to remember.

Yuta takes his time walking out of his apartment complex although the clock on his phone's lockscreen was flashing bright white digits that indicate his tardiness but he isn't bothered by that. Waiting for fifteen minutes sitting down would never hurt anyone.

He's nervous, that's what it is. And he only recognizes the feeling when he makes it to the restaurant entrance, seeing all the formally clothed people inside and a familiar head of black hair sitting alone on a table for two. He thanks the usher for letting him in before he takes slow steps towards the table where Taeyong sat.

"Oh wow." was the first thing Yuta hears. Not quite what he wanted to hear but he brushes it off, the nervousness quickly being replaced by agitation at the sight of a wide-eyed Taeyong.

"Wow…" Taeyong repeats and Yuta lifts an eyebrow. "Is there anything else you can say?" evidently annoyed.

At this point, Taeyong blanks out completely. He stares at Yuta with his mouth open, eyeing him from head to the very end of his view. It's not all the time you find the charming (and not to mention extremely popular) Japanese male to be seated in front of you, all dressed up for a… "date".

He doesn't even find the correct words yet but he manages to speak up gibberish such as "uhhh… uhhh…" continuously and Yuta's trying his best to put out most of his patience to this.

First, he gets involved into a false article, and now a date with his supposed enemy. Fun.

"I see that you're baffled by my appearance," Yuta then decides to break the incredibly awkward ice. It makes Taeyong snap his gaze back up to his face, after having to admire the nice outfit Yuta has on for the past few minutes. "Aren't there any other words rather than baffled?"

Yuta lifts an eyebrow once again. "Okay, what about it?"

Taeyong clears his throat and shrugs. "The way you talk, you sound like you're in a chick flick or something. What is this? A Netflix original?" Taeyong scoffs, beginning to sit more comfortably on that chair of his. 

There were fumes coming out of Yuta's nostrils once Taeyong finishes his response. He's surprised he's held back long enough for the latter to actually end a sentence, much yet a question or two towards him. It's worse that he dropped a few sarcastic remarks, Yuta's gonna make sure he's having it.

"I don't think you're oriented on why we're here," he says through gritted teeth. Not even an hour into this date and Yuta's fists are already balling beneath the table. It's not like you can blame him, he is his  _ enemy  _ after all.

Taeyong raises a hand to call over a waiter, Yuta waits patiently until the elder was finished stating his orders. The waiter turns to him then and Yuta couldn't handle Taeyong's burning gaze on him as he scans the menu.  _ God _ , he thought, managing to get through the ordering and awkwardly clears his throat.

"As I was saying-"

"Hold on, I have to finish this glass of water."

Yuta doesn't even hide the annoyance in his expressions, mouthing a big 'what?!' before snatching the glass of water, of course, watching as the water spilled into Taeyong's expensive looking shirt. "What the hell?!" Taeyong yells.

Yuta then rolls his eyes and nods. "Yeah, what the hell, Taeyong. Can we finally move on to the talking?"

His eyes shine at the sight of Taeyong's defeated look (with a matching sigh) before he's signaled to go on. "We're here because of a fake article."

The napkin that sat in silence on his plate was quickly taken into the elder's grasp, he looks at Yuta with a raised eyebrow as he dabs the cloth into the damp shirt, Yuta's only beginning to feel guilty about it. 

"Why are you suddenly quiet?" he asks, Taeyong shrugs. "I don't know, you were the one so keen on getting the conversation started, I'd expect you to just keep talking so beats me-"

He holds back another groan, gritting his teeth once again as the elder constantly attempts to dry his messed up shirt.

This is one heck of a night.

"You know what, fuck the conversation-" Taeyong furrows his eyebrows at this, setting the napkin aside as he adjusts his seat. He scoots closer to have a better look at the younger male. "No, we continue the conversation. I want to know what kind of business we're handling here, I'm not just sticking up my finger into unknown places! That's dangerous."

There's a low chuckle that comes out of Yuta, not minding the waiter placing their orders to in front of them. "To be fair, you should have known you were already in danger once I called you up for a date."

Taeyong then side-eyes the leaving waiter as he reluctantly turns back to Yuta. "I would have," he said slowly, "if I had known you call this a date."

"Oh, you didn't?" Yuta then smirks, finding amusement in the elder's oblivion. "You just scored a date with the campus' best dancer without knowing. You truly are a winner, Taeyong."

"I'm not here for competition nor comparison so drop it," Taeyong bites back, finding the abrupt change of expression in Yuta's face as a sign of some progress in, before he taps his fingers on the table impatiently. "Why are we here?"

Yuta then shrugs, with a hum that would make up as a tease for the elder sat across. Taeyong is trying his best not to evidently profess his agitation and only widens his eyes to urge the younger male to actually get on what he started.

But it clicks that this is Nakamoto Yuta, and if anything, the least of a conversation that could happen is a proper exchange of hi and hello, the next few scenarios are quite unpredictable.

He lets out a groan, one that involuntarily came out of his mouth as his meter was rising each passing second. "I'm aware that Doyoung is our mutual friend that happens to be part of the campus journalism organization," Taeyong leads on, eyes glinting with hope that this would spark up the long overdue conversation.

He's only hoping they begin now before he gets further distracted by the visuals the younger male is presenting. He can gawk on him later, that's what urges him on to talk.

Yuta finds defeat in that as he sees how desperately the elder wants to get on with the topic. It's selfish as well to keep Taeyong in the dark when Yuta has more than that to worry about over his mistakes in the past, he should at least get rid of one weight off of his shoulders.

"Yeah, Doyoung," he responds moments later, taking the wine glass into his fingers to down the remaining contents of it, worried that there might be another clothing mishap if it were still full. "I suggest you don't read the false article, but given that you don't really read the school newspaper, we're both saved from extra migraines to deal with."

"And how do you know I don't read the newspaper?"

Yuta then raises an eyebrow, "are you suspecting me of something you and I both know I don't do?" and Taeyong could only mouth a 'touché' before he signals for him to continue once again.

Yuta hums and arranges the words in his head. It's not easy to break the news to someone accused of dating you when in reality, there's not even the slightest bit of attraction seen in between the two parties. He doesn't even know what Taeyong will say but what has to be done, has to be done.

"Doyoung…" he begins, not being able to continue what he had led on. Taeyong leans in in anticipation, not quite liking the suspense but the sight of the younger male wincing doesn't seem like a good sign. "Doyoung, he uh…" Yuta fiddles with his thumbs, wincing the second time around. "He wrote that we're dating."

Yuta looks up at Taeyong after a minute of what he had said, and he didn't really expect for him to only sit there, quiet—really anticlimactic, he thinks.

"What? You're not surprised?" Yuta asks, tone confused. Taeyong's face showed signs of processing the information but aside from that, nothing scandalous, really. He shrugs and takes the wine glass again into his fingers. "Not really, I was actually waiting for him to write something like that, he's definitely most capable of doing so."

At this point of the conversation, Yuta is "baffled". Out of the both of them, he thought Taeyong would be the one to react over the bar, but by the looks of it, it happens to be Yuta who had thrown a complete fit over the whole fiasco.

Taeyong then puts the wine glass down after taking a sip and continues his reply with, "one thing that I wouldn't have seen coming was that I was going to be that person he'd write about it. But what's done is done, right?"

_ No!  _ Yuta thinks, why does he seem alright with this? They were never in talking terms to begin with, so what makes this entire situation a "what is done is done" thing? Nothing. Yuta wants to flip the table over so bad.

But he has to keep it in.  _ manners, Yuta… manners.  _ He already came in late for this meeting and now, he's considering on acting like a complete brat. That's not the Yuta standard we're living up to.

He can't formulate any other response aside from a simple "I guess," and it has Taeyong nodding his head, understandingly. "What was the purpose of this dinner then? Just to break the news to me? So nice of you…" Taeyong jokes, his laughter filling the awkward atmosphere.

Yuta rolls his eyes for the nth time and shakes his head. "If it was to tell you the news, I wouldn't have booked a night in such a romantic and…" he hisses, "expensive place…" 

Taeyong still doesn't get the hint but he lets out an "ah", urging the younger male to proceed. Yuta then takes a deep breath before he speaks up again, "I've tried thinking of a way to lessen the burden on Doyoung's side, it's not much to be honest, just really difficult to pull off."

It didn't take long for Taeyong's eyes to go wide once again before he leans in to whisper. "Are you offering fake dating as a solution?"

Yuta grimaces at the words uttered but he's a lot more concerned about the fact Taeyong immediately knows where this is leading to. It makes him think how many times has he been involved in these kind of cases but that's a story to be told another day and he nods at Taeyong's inquiry.

He watches him throw his head back in disbelief. Oh how he badly feels the same.

"Dear God, not again…" he whispers to himself and Yuta raises his eyebrow only for him to shake his head. "What's the first move?" he asks, wanting this to end faster. Yuta gestures to them and only says, "you're looking at it."

And Taeyong's jaw falls open, and he shudders at the thought of having to  _ fake  _ fighting over who pays for the bill later on. "You're telling me this is a  _ date date? _ " he whisper-shouts at the man seated across him. Yuta could only nod, clearly not enjoying this himself.

Taeyong winces and sits silent on his seat. This is going to be a long night.


	3. separate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> after the date night, yuta and taeyong try the first thing that a couple could do out in the open—hand holding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay, i know there is no way for 2.2k words is going to be able to justify my 2 months no update streak. i honestly don't know what has been going with me but lately i have been very unmotivated in every single one of my works. it's been a terrible two months but hopefully, this update could brighten up someone's day. so enjoy, even if i didnt really proofread this one hahaha struggle... sorry.

The day after that dinner date wasn't exactly half as bad as Yuta had thought it would be.

They talked. Tried their best for one not to roll eyes at a remark they didn't quite like and they were pretty good at moving from a topic to another when they felt an argument bubbling up.

Of course it was awkward. Yuta had to sit down across his "enemy" for hours until the night was late enough to be deemed that it was time to go to their respective homes. Despite that, it wasn't easy to pretend none of it happened, not when Yuta hears Taeyong's [fake] laughter play in his head while he brushes his teeth.

Him and Taeyong had agreed to meet up by the university entrance to attract attention that night as well, their first step into this fake dating agenda. Not that they wanted to flash some PDA at such a sudden pace but they believed it was easier to get the message across from there.

If they start big, it grows bigger—that's what they want to achieve. 

Yuta  _ dreaded  _ the thought of him intertwining fingers with Taeyong. He had to gulp it down until it falls to the void of his stomach, never to be seen again. But it came back when he neared university, heart beating at a rate his mind can't measure. 

Taeyong was, unfortunately, already there. He walks up to Yuta in slow, careful steps before he hesitates to offer his free hand, other one holding his sketchbook. After a few [terribly awkward and small hushed bickering] moments, they were  _ finally  _ holding hands, fingers intertwined; like they were the couple they  _ should  _ be.

They admit the attention was weird. They were met with a bunch of widened eyes and quiet voices that proceeded in a series of people passing the message (a real life chain messaging occurring right before their eyes, that's what). And, as expected, each person that passes by will leave a lingering shocked look that does not go unnoticed.

For Yuta, he doesn't know how to react. He's just always caught looking the other way whenever he accidentally meets eyes with one of the people of the public. He wouldn't even say anything if one of them spoke up.

It's either Taeyong who stares them down, or if they're lucky: Ten, who snaps at people who gazed down at their connected hands for far too long.

It was then when they gathered up on a shared table in a fast food restaurant for lunch when they let out breaths of relief, letting go of each other's hands. Like a breath of fresh air, Taeyong thought as he takes a napkin to wipe the sweat accumulated from the long walk towards the restaurant 

"First off," Ten, their supposed third wheel, perks up. His eyes narrowed as his head tilts to give them both a judging look, something that put both men sat in front him in a state of evident tension. "What is happening?!" he exclaims, technically bursting it out, tone evidently confused. 

"Do you genuinely not know what's going on?" Yuta then begins, not before he shot Taeyong a side-eye glare. "Or you're trying to pretend you dont?" 

Ten scoffs before he pulls out his wallet from his bag. He looks at Yuta and spoke. "You're the one I'm friends with," Ten says before transferring his gaze to Taeyong and sheepishly smiles to utter a quick "no offense."

"One, you and I have never ate lunch with him, he has his own set of friends! Two, you aren't really subtle on how you feel about him." There was silence as Yuta stares down at Ten with a raised eyebrow, as if to urge him to continue. Ten then groans before he shouts. "You hate him!"

Taeyong, on the receiving end, wasn't really impressed at what he's hearing but he can't say he's surprised anyway. Ten was right, Yuta was never subtle with all his glares whether side-eyed or full front facing ones. He was never subtle whenever he criticized his movements in a choreography he had made. He was  _ never  _ subtle. 

"I don't hate him," Yuta says after a long pause. Ten returns the raised eyebrow minutes ago from the latter and flashes another sheepish smile towards the other male. "You basically talk shit about him everyday, let's not make this day any different." 

Taeyong could see how tightly Yuta's grip had grown on his wallet. He's afraid the man could rip it apart with bare hands and he was thinking fast how to end this but Yuta was already answering back, taking away his chance to talk.

"Are we explaining the situation or you're here to expose me? The tea is fucking cold, Ten." that earned a small yet playful 'ow' from a chuckling Ten. "Let me order my food first before you explain, I don't want to listen to hours worth of stories on an empty stomach," and with that he left to order his food.

Silence falls on their table for the first time in their barely 5 minute stay. Taeyong watches from his peripheral on how Yuta throws his head back due to stress. 

He's debating on telling Yuta he didn't have to worry about Ten saying anything. He  _ knew  _ from the very beginning what Yuta had thought of him so it wasn't as painful as Yuta thinks. Or as humiliating. 

Though, there was a part of his mind that told him it was best if he just sat quiet, otherwise either one of them is bound to drop this act and let Doyoung face his consequences.

After all, this was just for Doyoung's sake. Neither of theirs.

"Aren't you hungry?" he hears Yuta ask out of his train of thought. Taeyong blinks twice before he replies, "not really."

Yuta furrows his eyebrows for a second and just nods. "I'm going to order food, you can stay here and watch over our stuff."

Taeyong mumbles a 'yeah' under his breath, not looking up when Yuta stands up to walk towards the counter. 

Just as he was about to unlock his phone and text Johnny some sort of rant, there's another presence that arrives, disturbing his short lived peace. "Oh," the voice then chimes. "Taeyong? Lee Taeyong?"

Taeyong doesn't know what luck he has but he knows he was definitely screwed upon recognizing whose voice had just questioned his identity. He follows the figure of the man from legs to face to answer his assumptions and his breath was knocked right out of him, not enabling him to formulate a reply.

Jaehyun stood with a grin in front of him, merely towering over him at this point. There's an arm outstretched for him to accept the handshake but he was stammering all over his mind that he couldn't take it.

"Jaehyun, you're late," Taeyong hears Ten's voice come in. Jaehyun then laughs before he looks over Taeyong once again. "I didn't know you guys were friends," the said male vaguely gestures to him. Ten looked confused for a split second, mouth letting out an 'ah!' as he looks over at Taeyong too. "Taeyong? Yeah, he's Yuta's—"

"Friend!"

Both men that stood by the table are jolted at the sudden sound of a voice other than theirs. Taeyong had been awfully quiet for the whole duration of the stay and the first time he speaks, he yells into their ears.

Jaehyun was the first one to regain his composure as he bursts into a fit of laughter. Ten was still staring at him wide-eyed, clearly startled at what had just happened and it was taking buffering moments for it to sink in on Taeyong that he indeed had just looked like a complete fool.

Did he just shout in front of his crush? It was to save his own ass anyway, right?

"What's going on?" Yuta re-appears. He stood a few feet away from the table, holding his tray of food. "N-Nothing," Ten and Taeyong stammer simultaneously and Yuta decided he'll just have to accept that answer if he didn't want this place to go wreak havoc. If he pried further, Ten might say something else he didn't want Ten to say.

He takes his designated seat next to Taeyong, who was back to sitting silently on his chair. He quietly passes Taeyong a little box of nuggets,  _ just so I don't appear like a complete asshole  _ Yuta thought. Taeyong reluctantly takes the food, uttering a quiet thank you before he munches on them.

It was awkward. Really fucking awkward that Ten had no choice but to use a phone to keep himself entertained since no one had the nerve to talk. He would look at them expectantly—Yuta was willing to explain what was going on just earlier, he's not sure what happened—and lets his shoulders slump when it appears hopeless for them to talk again.

There were chewing sounds, the sound effect of Ten's messages being sent and read, and the chatter from the restaurant. But neither Yuta nor Taeyong have spared each other a word.

Jaehyun comes back after a few minutes, making Ten beam in excitement to finally have a [talking] friend. Taeyong couldn't help but look up over and over again whenever he heard Jaehyun chuckle or laugh. It was the only good thing out of this, he made sure to make the most out of it.

And he also notices the way Ten looks at him with narrowed eyes whenever he does. He's sure they might talk about this soon.

  
  
  
  
  


They unclasped their fingers for the last time today. Taeyong retrieves his own hand and wraps his fingers around the wrist, trying to let it free from stiffness. "Are you going straight home?" Taeyong asks, not looking up. Yuta takes a while to reply but he does with a hum. "What about you?" he feels Yuta's eyes on him, which makes him not look up again, turning to the floor as he puts his arm down. 

"I… have to study."

Yuta knows that's bullshit but he doesn't say anything.

They finally went their separate ways. Yuta didn't look back but Taeyong cautiously turned around to see Yuta walking left. He sighs out audibly and made careful steps towards the practice room.

He flickers the lights open, being met with the bareness of the room. Setting his bag down, he glances at the small window to see the sun slowly going down. He mentally notes to himself to pack up once it's gone completely dark.

Music begins to boom through the speakers, his feet guiding himself to the center of the floor. He starts to go on with the movements his mind had memorized, each beat he hits doesn't leave him satisfied.

Taeyong then goes on for another hour, and another, and another. Until he's sprawled on the floor, exhausted and body aching. But he cries, thinking he's still not good enough.

So he gets up and dances again.

  
  
  
  


"You're not ripping him off his pride, are you?" Doyoung asks, tumbler full off coffee. "What do you mean by that?" Yuta asks as a reply, eyes looking down at the tumbler. "And why are you drinking coffee at this hour? It's literally almost time to go to bed."

Doyoung rolls his eyes, shifting on the bed to a more comfortable position. "What I meant was that I hope you're not talking shit about him face to face," he says, hand lifting up the screen of his laptop. "And you're a college student, you should know by now that we don't have a single idea about the concept of 'time to go to bed', no, we don't know that."

He looks back at the events earlier. He doesn't recall a single time he had been saying anything particularly bad about Taeyong. There was Ten who had yelled out something he shouldn't have but that was it. 

If anything, the whole day was just filled with awkward hand holding. No words exchanged, just hand holding.

"Surprisingly, I never said anything to him." that earns a 'huh' from the other male, looking up to find him eyebrows furrowed yet eyes glued to the laptop screen. "Wait, so you guys didn't talk?" Doyoung clarifies, eyes going off the screen to glance at Yuta.

He hums. "It's a fake relationship," Yuta mutters. "You didn't say anything about friendship."

Doyoung types away into his laptop for minutes and he goes back to interrogating Yuta when he felt like it again. "You do know I didn't expect you to agree to this?"

Yuta didn't plan to reply to him anymore but the statement kind of made him want to know what his friend had implied, so he halts typing just to ask: "You didn't?"

He hears the other male let out a loud chuckle. "Of course I didn't," he says through the fit of laughter. "You hated him to his wits, you wanted rid of him on freshman year for no reason."

It was his turn to laugh. "I wouldn't have agreed if your life wasn't on the line though," Yuta confesses.

"Was I that desperate that day?"

Yuta then laughs again, flashbacks replaying in his mind as he nods. "Yes, you were practically on your knees."

"Well then, I don't want to talk about it." The typing sounds from the other side of the room returns and Yuta takes it as his cue to continue on his essay as well but not without laughing at his friend's remark. "I figured," he commented lowly and that finishes their discussion.

Yuta shuts his laptop at 2 AM, worriedly checking his clock app if he actually has his alarms on before he lifts the comforter to his neck to get some short good sleep. Beside him, Doyoung was still working his ass away and he couldn't be bothered to tell him to sleep.

His mind went back to what happened the other day and he's realized that he has to go do the same things when he wakes up. 

He's worried.

Because he's not sure until how long he can keep this up. He doesn't know what the outcome will be or whatever happens at the end of it… just that he's doing this for his best friend. Just for the reason that at least one of them sleeps peacefully at night.


End file.
